Can you enforce Dress Code for believers?

This morning as I attended the Church, I was amazed to listen to an order by the Diocese Archbishop. Among others, it mentioned a dress code for worshipers. While it was not clear what to wear, jeans and T-Shirts were clearly in the negative list.


Ashley E. McGuire, the editor-in-chief for altcatholicah.org says the way many people dress to mass in the US is completely offensive. “Strapless tops, cleavage, skirts that hardly cover the derriere, shorts, tracksuits, cut-offs. Tank tops.  Midriffs. Minis. How this became acceptable is a mystery. How to change it, is not.”


But this is not the case with the Church in Ahmedabad, especially Orthodox Church truly orthodox in many ways than one. Here people come with everything covered. I for one, regularly use T Shirt and Jeans. Not because it is one of my favourite nor do I look like a star in this attire but more because it is more comfortable than the formal ones that I wear for all the other six days.


Indians are not very akin to a dress code that the Vatican has. It prohibits anyone from entering a holy place wearing Shorts/skirts above the knee, • Sleeveless shirts, • Shirts exposing the navel, • Shirts for women that expose cleavage. But these are conveniently forgotten by all Catholics, especially in the Konkan region. They face a major issue of Religion Vs Culture.


In defense of the dress code, Ashley writes “let’s not forget, Jesus also flipped tables in a rage when he saw his Father’s house disrespected. He also reminded us in a parable that the man who showed up to a royal wedding not wearing the proper attire met a dreadful fate. Jesus was clear throughout the gospels: What you wear matters. He went to his own death in a garment so fine that men gambled for it.”


But when did this practice of advocating dress code in Orthodox began? I presume I have not heard any order since I seriously started attending Church. I would consider this as the biggest insult to my identity if anyone in this world directs me what to wear in my place of worship. 


Moreover how would you stop tones of perfumes, silk clothing, plucked eyebrows, gold watches, gold rings, gold ornaments, hairs straightened (list is long) from being transported to Church? My good friend at Tailor’s Point, one of the up market boutiques for men showed me an Italian Shirting costing Rs 17000 per meter. This means a shirt piece would cost almost 40,000. Wearing it is not a sin but poor souls like me wearing a T Shirt worth Rs 300 is a sin.


The Pentecostal Church, famous for picking up bits and pieces from Bible to justify their point of view, is the biggest offender in this saga. They don’t wear gold or any other ornaments. But each of them has a Rado or TAG Heuer. Their weddings are one of the costliest in terms of dress materials and food items but yet claim they are closer to God by not wearing ornaments.


If I argue this with any of the Pentecostal members, they will open the Bible in a split of a second and show me Genesis 35:2 which says – “Let us not allow the worldly, wrongly and wickedly dress fashion to be one of the gods in our lives. We need to cleanse and change our garments.”


And with absolute no knowledge of Bible, I will be left speechless. And since they are smart with Bible, they will further flip to Timothy 2:9-10 or Matthew 5:28. They will certainly show me the basic tenets of their faith - All Christian women should not wear the garments that pertain to the harlot – taken in bits and pieces from Proverbs 7:10; Isaiah 47:1-5.


While it is fair to call upon the believers to dress simple, putting pressure on them to wear what the priests and bishops like is undemocratic. 


When I see animal activists of Hindu Fundamentalist parties limiting their protest against killing of animals to only cow, I wonder what Goat, Chickens and Buffalloes have done to them. In a similar way I was wondering what sin has Jeans done to the Church to ask for its overall ban.


The first and the foremost, to me, is that almost all criminals wear Jeans. They are also favourite dress for hippies and rascals and all non-believers. More so Jeans is called "breeches" in Exodus 28:42.


Not wearing a Jeans and T Shirt is not a sign of modesty. One has to go overboard to make Clergy understand what the purpose of clothing is. It remains the same as mentioned in Genesis 3:7 even thousands of years after Adam and Eve realized it. In fact clothing is meant for covering the body, not revealing it and this is what the entire quotes from Bible also meant. But when twisted, these scriptures can mean anything. Jeans and T Shirts also serves the same purpose that the Clergies are calling for with other type of dress codes that we are no longer naked and unashamed.


I follow what my conscience says and I am pretty sure that it is not only Biblical but also social. There is a famous saying in Hindi by Habib Jhalib which goes like this 


ऐसे दस्तूर को, सुभ ए बेनूर को, मैं नहीं मानता मैं नहीं जानता




And I am an ardent fan of this unsung poet.

Voice of dissent can never be tolerated in a democracy

Voice of dissent can never be tolerated in a democracy. Confused? Believe it or not, this is the reality in India. You cannot talk to Medha Patkar and then live in Gujarat because she has fought for some ‘unwanted tribal’ depriving the enterprising people of Gujarat the most precious water from Narmada. You cannot voice your opinion against the large scale industrial loot in the name of economical growth because it will deter foreign investors from coming to India. 


You should be as superman to read any piece by Arundhati Roy because she is a right wing labeled left wing terrorist. You cannot enjoy M F Hussain art because his drawing had hurt somebody somewhere and no one remembers who these people are. You cannot say anything against the religious tourism subsidy being doled out for no reasons to a particular community because it will have major repercussions including cold blooded murder. You cannot object to the actions of a particular chief minister of a state for his role in a sectarian violence because a decade has passed and it is time to forget and forgive and also because he is the darling of masses and a prime ministerial candidate. 


There are other exceptions too. You cannot offer a rose to your lover because a particular Sene has objection. You have to put the local language on your shop because a particular party doesn’t understand Hindi or likes Hindi speaking people. Anti-Hindi south Indian parties indulge in similar but more dramatic activities down south. January 1 is not your new year because there are parties around the globe. Inter religious relation and dialogues have become the biggest taboo. Dating and courting is out question and same sex relations cant even be a thought process.


The biggest of all these is the Kashmir issue. Because it is not debated well, no one knows what the issue is especially the youths. What they know is a piece of land under Indian occupation which is being snatched forcibly by Pakistan. Beyond this even those who hit Prashant Bhushan may not know.


In the process of curtailing freedom of expression, we have curtailed the knowledge acquisition process of an entire generation. No youths want to know or debate any controversial issue because it will label them as right wing or left wing or pseudo secular or a terrorist. Universities and colleges have stopped open debates because it could turn into ugly war. Friends from different religion and caste is a thing of past. Many Hindu youths studying in posh schools have never met a Muslim in their entire life and vice versa with Muslim students.


Where is this leading us to? Make no mistake, we are going to face anarchy – in true Rajnikant style.


And still we castigate our doubts over Saudi Arabia, Iran and other so called conservative countries? At least they accept what they are doing. We don’t.